Results 26,321-26,340 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Durkan. Regarding how people feel about their concerns, I cannot speak to whether they feel those concerns have been addressed. To my mind, however, the evidence never backed up those concerns. There were concerns about a lack of implementation, whereas, in fact, the evidence shows more implementation than in any previous year. Therefore, I have always disagreed with the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: No, it is all accounted for in this budget.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: It is made up of the core funding to the NTPF of €100 million. There is also a one-off allocation, which may become multiannual but for this year it is a one-off addition, to the NTPF of €50 million, which brings the total funding for that scheme to €150 million. An additional €200 million is being deployed across a range of measures, some of which may be...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The situation is not acceptable. As the Deputy quite rightly lays out, it is not acceptable for hospitals, for inpatients, for outpatients, for diagnostics, for adults and children or for community care. The €350 million was put into the budget for exactly this reason. Additional funding is not required at this point because a fund like this has never been created before, to the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I will try to find that for the Deputy.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: For 2021 and 2022-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: For 2021, I do not have the figure but over the two years, there was a total of about 12,500.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The total number recruited as permanent roles into the HSE was 6,149.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: We sometimes forget that, on top of that, several thousand were also hired in the vaccine roll-out and testing and tracing, so the total number was significantly higher than 6,149.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, far short.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: That is right.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: As the Deputy is aware, the HSE has revised its view as to what is achievable this year, and its view is approximately 5,500 whole-time equivalents. However, I would make two points. First, on the 10,000 figure, I am very comfortable setting stretch targets that move the HSE and the Department beyond what they are comfortable trying to achieve. Second, the fact there is now a gap between...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for her questions. While I am going to get into the substance of it straight away, I am very uncomfortable with civil servants being secretly recorded, those recordings being given to newspapers and then those civil servants being named in those newspapers. I hope we are all on the same page on this. Civil servants must challenge the agencies, in this case the HSE. They...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I will answer the questions directly but I might ask the Department to provide a more detailed note for the committee because these are important issues and there is much more detail than I can cover here. On the financial management system, the detailed design was completed in quarter 2 of last year. The capital budget for the programme is €82 million. That...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: We will look for a note on that. We can give the Deputy a breakdown by different areas, including nursing, midwifery, clinical specialties, non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, health and social care professionals, and management and administrative grades. I am seeking a note on, which I will revert to the Deputy with.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes. I will get the Deputy a note on CHOs and hospital groups, which is the best way to look at it for the acute hospital services.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The different departments, hospitals, CHOs and clinical specialties have timelines against which they would like all of those staff recruited. We will include that information in the note.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (24 Feb 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: There are a few areas where we will be spending more but it will be funding public patients. The aim of us using capacity from the private or independent sector is purely with a view to treating as many public patients as possible. As the Deputy will be aware, there have been several safety net agreements put in place. This means that when the capacity within the HSE hospital system is put...